Detection of retinal diseases from ophthalmological images based on convolutional neural network architecture

Abstract

The retina is an eye layer that incorporates light- and color-sensitive cells as well as nerve fibers. It collects light and distributes it to the brain for image processing through the use of the optic nerve. Diseases that end up causing vision loss and blindness are generated by retinal ailments. As a result, it is imperative to diagnose and treat certain disorders as early as possible. Optical coherence tomography (OCT), an angiography imaging technique, is operated to help diagnose retinal disorders. Deep learning approaches, which are extensively utilized, have now become a convenient way for diagnosing retinal illnesses through OCT images as a result of their effective outcomes in interpreting medical images. To diagnose retinal disorders utilizing OCT scans, this investigation developed a hybrid methodology based on image pre-processing and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) (a deep learning method). Image pre-processing techniques including background filling, resizing, noise reduction, and highlighting are exercised at the pre-processing stage. The segmentation process provides a new CNN architecture with five convolution layers that does have a low computational cost. Compared to other publications using the same data set, the proposed method seems to have a success rate of 99.48 percent in the detection of retinal disorders, closing a significant gap in the literature. The proposed approach has the advantage of maintaining low computing costs in comparison to other studies in the literature. When the conclusions are regarded, it is noticed that the suggested method might be exerted as a decision support system to assist physicians in the clinical context during the diagnosis of retinal disorders.